WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Pretty clever bird, the parrot. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.000 He can actually talk, pronounce words. 00:00:29.001 --> 00:00:33.000 Of course he has no idea what the word means, so we never take him seriously. 00:00:33.001 --> 00:00:36.000 Unfortunately, that's not true with gossips. 00:00:36.001 --> 00:00:40.000 They use words just as carelessly as the parrot, but sometimes we take them 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.000 seriously, and often innocent persons are harmed. 00:00:43.001 --> 00:00:46.001 You see, gossips don't stop to think that words are dangerous. 00:00:46.001 --> 00:00:50.000 They influence our national life, and in war they are powerful weapons. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 Gossips talk words around as carelessly as parrots, with no 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.001 more sense of the harm they can do. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.000 Did I hear somebody say gossiping is monopolized by women? 00:00:59.001 --> 00:01:03.000 Far from it. Anyone who uses words carelessly, especially to talk 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:05.000 behind someone's back, is a gossip. 00:01:05.001 --> 00:01:07.001 Let me tell you a little story about a gossip. 00:01:09.001 --> 00:01:14.000 This is Marion High, my school. I'm the principal, George Eastmore. 00:01:14.001 --> 00:01:17.001 There were some people in my office this particular morning, Mr. and 00:01:17.001 --> 00:01:19.000 Mrs. Gage, and their daughter, Jean. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:23.001 They told me Jean would have to leave school. Why? Because 00:01:23.001 --> 00:01:25.000 of the malicious gossip about her. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.000 I was shocked, and I asked for details to see if we could do something about it. 00:01:29.001 --> 00:01:32.001 We began talking, even though Jean thought it was already too late. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.001 Mr. and Mrs. Gage had opened a grocery store at the start of the term, 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.001 and Jean helped out after school. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:48.001 Usually it's difficult for a boy or girl entering a new 00:01:48.001 --> 00:01:53.000 school to get acquainted and make friends, but in Jean's case it was easy. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.001 She's a very good artist. Her first drawing won a school award, and the prize 00:01:57.001 --> 00:01:59.000 -winning picture was posted on the bulletin board. 00:01:59.001 --> 00:02:03.000 That seemed to open the doors for her. All the girls 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:04.001 were interested and anxious to meet her. 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.000 The first friend she made was Janice Nelson. 00:02:08.001 --> 00:02:13.000 Of course, Marion High is co-educational, and the other half of our student body 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:16.000 is always interested in a pretty, popular new girl. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000 So while Jean's new friend Janice Nelson was introducing her to some of the other 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.000 girls, Jack Monroe and Bill Ellis, our two ranking Casanova's, were making a 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.000 little bet as to which would make the first date with her. 00:02:32.001 --> 00:02:39.000 Bill Ellis made the first move. He was waiting on the steps when Janice and Jean 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.001 left school that afternoon, and soon was off 00:02:41.001 --> 00:02:43.000 to a running start in the competition. 00:02:47.001 --> 00:02:51.001 Jack wasn't called the best broken field runner in Marion history for nothing. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:58.001 Besides, he still had some trumps in his hand, like an open convertible which had 00:02:58.001 --> 00:03:00.000 helped quite a few times in the past. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.000 Bill didn't know it yet, but he was about to be outmaneuvered by an old 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.000 trick, the fake flat tire. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.001 Jack was well on the lead now. He drove 12 blocks out of his way to 00:03:20.001 --> 00:03:22.000 drop Janice off first. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.000 Then he took his time getting Jean back to the grocery store. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.000 Jean introduced Jack to her mother and father, and presto, he'd won. He had a 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.001 date with Jean for Friday night. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.000 From the time Jack called for her, and all during the afternoon and evening, Jean 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.001 kept thinking to herself how lucky she was that her father had moved his store 00:03:51.001 --> 00:03:53.001 here so she could attend Marion. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.001 She was a brand new student, and already she'd won the art contest, made a whole 00:03:57.001 --> 00:04:02.000 circle of friends, had been asked to fetch the girls' club, and now here she was 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000 out with the most popular boy in school. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.001 But when they drove home, Jean began to learn a little more about Jack. His 00:04:15.001 --> 00:04:19.001 popularity had gone to his head. He was completely sure of himself, confident 00:04:19.001 --> 00:04:21.001 that none of the girls could resist him. 00:04:26.001 --> 00:04:31.000 Jean's slap didn't hurt his face, but it certainly injured his pride. He tried to 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.000 laugh it off, but he was thinking that he'd have to get even. 00:04:34.001 --> 00:04:37.001 Jack didn't lose any time giving the other boys a highly colored version of the 00:04:37.001 --> 00:04:41.001 date. To regain his self-confidence and build himself up in their eyes, he added 00:04:41.001 --> 00:04:45.000 a few details, remarks about Jean, completely untrue. 00:04:45.001 --> 00:04:48.000 But then gossips seldom worry about the truth. 00:04:49.001 --> 00:04:53.001 Now the gossip began to spread. Bill Ellis colored it a little more and passed it 00:04:53.001 --> 00:04:56.000 on. Then Christine Manors took over. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:04.000 First, she used her lunch hour to tell the story to every girl who had listened, 00:05:04.001 --> 00:05:06.001 and that included practically every girl in the school. 00:05:11.001 --> 00:05:15.001 When she got home, she took over the telephone to call all those she'd missed. 00:05:16.001 --> 00:05:18.001 Yes, gossip spreads like wildfire, especially 00:05:18.001 --> 00:05:20.001 with the help of girls like Christine. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:25.000 And by the end of the day, the harm was done. Jean's reputation was ruined. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.000 The next morning, Christine still wasn't through. She'd been jealous of a new 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000 girl's popularity and talent from the start. Now was her chance. 00:05:36.001 --> 00:05:40.000 But the picture gave Jean her first inkling that something was wrong. She 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.001 knew it had been torn down deliberately. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.001 She asked her friend Janice if she'd done something wrong. But Janice was too 00:05:46.001 --> 00:05:49.000 uncomfortable, embarrassed to tell Jean to her face. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.001 Everyone took pains to ignore her. She felt like an 00:05:53.001 --> 00:05:56.000 outcast, yet couldn't imagine why. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:02.000 Jean was hurt and bewildered. Mary and I had seemed so wonderful only last week. 00:06:02.001 --> 00:06:05.001 Now it was like a completely different school. Gossip. 00:06:06.001 --> 00:06:10.000 Jean was lonely and miserable all week, but she was still hopeful that once she 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.001 was initiated into the girls' club, things would be better. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.000 However, Jean had already been blackballed even before the club scavenger hunt 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:20.001 had started. But instead of telling her, the club president had made Jean's 00:06:20.001 --> 00:06:23.001 assignments far more difficult than the other girls, hoping Jean would 00:06:23.001 --> 00:06:25.001 fail, thus disqualifying herself. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:40.001 Not knowing this, Jean started out on the scavenger hunt as eagerly as any of the 00:06:40.001 --> 00:06:43.000 others. She was willing to work twice as hard as 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.001 the other pledges to be initiated. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.001 The rest of the pledges had finished their assignments and had been notified of 00:06:52.001 --> 00:06:56.001 their acceptance before Jean returned. Now the girls were really embarrassed. 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.000 Jean came back with every one of her assignments completed. What could she do 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.000 next? Nothing Christine told her she'd been blackballed. She wasn't wanted. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Jean couldn't understand. She'd done her assignments as well as any of them. Why 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:18.000 had she been rejected? Christine said Jean knew very well why because they didn't 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:22.000 want her kind of girl in their club. Jean still didn't understand. 00:07:22.001 --> 00:07:27.001 Janice finally had to explain that they all knew about her, about Jack's story. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:32.000 Jean was stunned. How could anybody believe that? About her. 00:07:48.001 --> 00:07:52.001 When Mr. and Mrs. Gage came home, Jean told them what had happened, that she 00:07:52.001 --> 00:07:55.001 hadn't been accepted by the club because of a gossip about 00:07:55.001 --> 00:07:57.001 it. She said she was quitting school. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:05.000 So that's the story she told me. That's why the gauges came to see me. They 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.001 agreed with Jean. It would be better if she left school. But I asked them to 00:08:08.001 --> 00:08:13.001 wait. Give me a chance to do what I could. Gossip is difficult to fight. You have 00:08:13.001 --> 00:08:15.001 to go right to the source and stamp it out. 00:08:23.001 --> 00:08:28.000 That's exactly what I did. I called in Jack Monroe, asked him point blank if he 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:33.000 was the gossip. Jack was surprised. He thought only women gossip. Men just, well, 00:08:33.001 --> 00:08:36.000 talk. He admitted he'd started the talk but he never 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:37.001 realized the harm it would do. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:42.000 When I had finished explaining what his loose talk had done to Jean, Jack asked 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.001 me what he could do. And I told him away, the only way. He thought it over. It 00:08:46.001 --> 00:08:49.001 wasn't going to be easy. It would be embarrassing and we both knew 00:08:49.001 --> 00:08:51.000 it. But he finally agreed. 00:08:56.001 --> 00:09:01.000 Give Jack credit. He went through with it. His voice broke a few times but he 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.000 managed to tell them all that there was nothing to the gossip. That he had made 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:08.000 up the story and was to blame for everything. But that wasn't quite right. 00:09:08.001 --> 00:09:13.000 I told them that anyone who listens to gossip is almost as much to blame as the 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:17.000 person who spreads it. We were going to discuss the problem in assembly. Make the 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:21.001 whole school aware of the danger and make sure that no Marion student would ever 00:09:21.001 --> 00:09:23.001 again be hurt the way Jean was. 00:09:24.001 --> 00:09:28.001 The next day the whole student body realized what they had done to Jean. Now they 00:09:28.001 --> 00:09:32.001 wanted to make it up to her. She made a fresh start and was soon one of Marion's 00:09:32.001 --> 00:09:34.001 most popular girls, one of our real leaders. 00:09:35.001 --> 00:09:39.000 What could have been another gossip tragedy had been a happy ending. But don't 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:43.000 forget this. There needn't have been so much as a near tragedy of our students 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.000 instead of imitating this bird. 00:09:45.001 --> 00:09:51.000 The gossipy parrot had instead copied three far wiser creatures, the three little 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:55.001 monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.